Dome diamond raiders given 18 years

FOUR men who battered their way into the Millennium Dome in a JCB excavator and attempted to snatch diamonds worth £200 million were jailed at the Old Bailey yesterday.

It would have been the world's biggest raid and two leaders of the plot - Raymond Betson and William Cockram - were each sentenced to 18 years after the jury found them guilty of conspiracy to rob at the end of a three-month trial.

Martin Heslop, QC, prosecuting, said the raid "was planned professionally, carefully and down to the last detail". He added: "So well organised was it that it would probably have succeeded, had it not been for an equally professional, careful and detailed police operation."

Police tried to minimise the risks to the public, he added. "Arrangements were made to keep children away from the danger area, but for obvious reasons it was not practicable to alert all staff to the possibility of an attack."

They had been watched for weeks. Police posed as tourists secretly filming gang members as they reconnoitred the Dome at Greenwich, south London. On the day of the raid, armed officers were in position inside and outside the Dome. Others, disguised as Dome staff, were stationed near the diamond vault. In all, there were about 200 officers, 75 of them armed.

Bystanders scattered as the four, wearing body armour and carrying bottles of ammonia, threw smoke grenades to generate panic. They were armed with sledgehammers, wire cutters and an industrial nail gun to break into two £50,000 reinforced glass cabinets housing the diamonds. They also had a scanner tuned into police frequencies but there were no firearms.

A speedboat, driven by a fifth man, Kevin Meredith, was close by on the Thames, to help them escape across the river. Betson, Cockram, Ciarrocchi and Adams admitted conspiracy to steal from the De Beers Millennium Diamond Exhibition, which has a maximum sentence of seven years.

They denied conspiracy to rob, which has a maximum term of life. Betson, Cockram and Ciarrocchi said they were not armed and had not contemplated using force - the definition of robbery - because they had inside information about Dome security and relied on the element of surprise.

Betson even blamed Pc Michael Waring, his brother-in-law and a serving police officer, claiming he supplied inside information and was involved. Pc Wearing denied the allegations and was exonerated by the judge.

The jury convicted all four of the more serious charge. Meredith was acquitted of conspiracy to rob but convicted of conspiracy to steal. He was arrested when police in launches surrounded the high-powered getaway boat at the nearby Queen Elizabeth Pier.

Judge Michael Coombe said: "This was a wicked, professional plan and one which was carried out with the minutest attention to detail. Mercifully the police were on to it."

He then jailed Cockram, 49, from Catford, south-east London, and Betson, 40, from Chatham, Kent, for 18 years. Ciarrocchi, 32, from Bermondsey, south-east London, and Adams, 58, of no fixed address, were given 15 years. Meredith, 35, from Brighton, was jailed for five years.